For Zeus chose us a King of the flowers in his mirth,
He would call to the rose, and would royally crown it;
For the rose, ho, the rose! is the grace of the earth,
Is the light of the plants that are growing upon it!
For the rose, ho, the rose! is the eye of the flowers,
Is the blush of the meadows that feel themselves fair,
Is the lightning of beauty that strikes through the bowers On pale lovers that sit in the glow unaware.
Ho, the rose breathes of love! ho, the rose lifts the cup To the red lips of Cypris invoked for a guest!
Ho, the rose having curled its sweet leaves for the world Takes delight in the motion its petals keep up,
As they laugh to the wind as it laughs from the west.
This English translation, by Mrs.
Browning, of 'Song of the Rose' is reprinted from Greek Poets in English Verse.
Ed.
William Hyde Appleton.
Cambridge:
The Riverside Press, 1893.
